Curley (1947 film)
Encyclopedia
Curley is a 1947 film produced by Hal Roach
and Robert F. McGowan
as a re-imagining of their Our Gang
series. The film was one of Roach's "streamlined
" features of the 1940s, running 53 minutes and was designed as a b-movie
. Like most of Roach's latter-day output, Curley was shot in Cinecolor
.
Bernard Carr was the film's director, and the film released to theatres on August 23, 1947 by United Artists
. It stars Larry Olsen, Frances Rafferty
, Billy Gray
, and Renee Beard, younger brother of original Our Gang cast member Matthew "Stymie" Beard. The plot of the film centers around a group of schoolchildren, led by Curley (Olsen), playing pranks on their teacher, Ms. Johnson (Rafferty).
Our Gang was known for its integrated cast of black and white children, and Curley followed suit. The Memphis, Tennessee
Censor Board banned Curley for showing black and white children in school together and playing together. Lloyd Binford
, head of the censor board, gave this rationale to Roach's distributor, United Artists
: "[The board] was unable to approve your 'Curley' picture with the little Negroes as the south does not permit Negroes in white schools nor recognize social equality between the races, even in children."
When Hal Roach sold Our Gang to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
in 1938, he was contractually bound not to produce any more children's comedies. When Roach decided that he wanted to produce Curley, he got MGM's permission by giving up his right to buy back the name Our Gang. Curley and its sequel, Who Killed Doc Robbin
, performed mildly at the box office.
Hal Roach
Harold Eugene "Hal" Roach, Sr. was an American film and television producer and director, and from the 1910s to the 1990s.- Early life and career :Hal Roach was born in Elmira, New York...
and Robert F. McGowan
Robert F. McGowan
Robert Francis McGowan was an American film director and producer, best known as the senior director of the Our Gang short subjects film series from 1922 until 1933.-Career:...
as a re-imagining of their Our Gang
Our Gang
Our Gang, also known as The Little Rascals or Hal Roach's Rascals, was a series of American comedy short films about a group of poor neighborhood children and the adventures they had together. Created by comedy producer Hal Roach, the series is noted for showing children behaving in a relatively...
series. The film was one of Roach's "streamlined
Hal Roach's Streamliners
Hal Roach's Streamliners were a series of short comedy films created by Hal Roach that were longer than a short subject and less than a feature film not exceeding 50 minutes in length. Twenty of the twenty-nine features that Roach produced for United Artists were in the streamliner format...
" features of the 1940s, running 53 minutes and was designed as a b-movie
B-movie
A B movie is a low-budget commercial motion picture that is not definitively an arthouse or pornographic film. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified a film intended for distribution as the less-publicized, bottom half of a double feature....
. Like most of Roach's latter-day output, Curley was shot in Cinecolor
Cinecolor
Cinecolor was an early subtractive color-model two color film process, based upon the Prizma system of the 1910s and 1920s and the Multicolor system of the late 1920s and 1930s. It was developed by William T. Crispinel and Alan M...
.
Bernard Carr was the film's director, and the film released to theatres on August 23, 1947 by United Artists
United Artists
United Artists Corporation is an American film studio. The original studio of that name was founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charles Chaplin, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks....
. It stars Larry Olsen, Frances Rafferty
Frances Rafferty
Frances Rafferty was an American actress, dancer, World War II pin-up girl and MGM contract star.-Early life:Frances Anne Rafferty was born in Sioux City, Iowa, the daughter of Maxwell Lewis Rafftery, Snr...
, Billy Gray
Billy Gray (actor)
William Thomas "Billy" Gray , is a former American actor known primarily for his role as James "Bud" Anderson, Jr., in 193 episodes of the NBC and CBS situation comedy, Father Knows Best, which aired between 1954 and 1960. Gray's fellow cast members were Robert Young, Jane Wyatt, Elinor Donahue,...
, and Renee Beard, younger brother of original Our Gang cast member Matthew "Stymie" Beard. The plot of the film centers around a group of schoolchildren, led by Curley (Olsen), playing pranks on their teacher, Ms. Johnson (Rafferty).
Our Gang was known for its integrated cast of black and white children, and Curley followed suit. The Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis is a city in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. The city is located on the 4th Chickasaw Bluff, south of the confluence of the Wolf and Mississippi rivers....
Censor Board banned Curley for showing black and white children in school together and playing together. Lloyd Binford
Lloyd Binford
Lloyd Tilgham Binford was an American insurance executive and film censor who was the head of the Memphis Censor Board for 28 years. The son of an infantry colonel, Binford left high school at 16 for a job as a railway postal clerk...
, head of the censor board, gave this rationale to Roach's distributor, United Artists
United Artists
United Artists Corporation is an American film studio. The original studio of that name was founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charles Chaplin, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks....
: "[The board] was unable to approve your 'Curley' picture with the little Negroes as the south does not permit Negroes in white schools nor recognize social equality between the races, even in children."
When Hal Roach sold Our Gang to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. is an American media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of films and television programs. MGM was founded in 1924 when the entertainment entrepreneur Marcus Loew gained control of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation and Louis B. Mayer...
in 1938, he was contractually bound not to produce any more children's comedies. When Roach decided that he wanted to produce Curley, he got MGM's permission by giving up his right to buy back the name Our Gang. Curley and its sequel, Who Killed Doc Robbin
Who Killed Doc Robbin
Who Killed Doc Robbin is a film produced by Hal Roach and Robert F. McGowan as a reimagining of their Our Gang series.The film was one of "Hal Roach's Streamliners" features of the 1940s, running only 55 minutes, and was designed as a B-movie. Like most of Roach's latter-day output, Who Killed Doc...
, performed mildly at the box office.